Valve Cover Installation Gone Wrong (Updated 2/26/11)

[amc78concord]

I recently bought my new valve cover, and had my buddies shop put it on for me.  Mainly because I didn't want to mess around with drilling holes and making a mess of my engine and not knowing if I could get it back together.  Well, this plan didn't go so well.  

I went to go pick up the car in high spirits, hoping the car would look good under the hood and my oil leaks would be cured.  I walked in the door and my friend says, "Yea, we had a bit of problems with your Eagle." "We put the cover on and about 5 minutes later after starting it up, there was a bunch of smoke pouring out of the engine."  ...I thought he was just joking with me, as he always gives me crap about my Eagle.  But he wasn't, with the new aluminum valve cover, some wires on the back side we're bare and then because it was aluminum now instead of plastic, it conducted electricity...  He said they repaired the wires and wrapped them real good, and said that he noticed no electrical components were harmed.  Well I said good, and got the keys and walked out to my car.  >>>But, it wasn't good... I started it up and noticed things weren't right...

>>>My tachometer doesn't work, which I just put on like a week ago
>>>Temperature gauge doesn't work
>>>Car doesn't idle right, like a misfire
>>>Still leaking oil, still from the valve cover by the Carb
>>>And, later I found out that when drilling the holes for my valve cover, he drilled to deep and drilled into my water jackets in my head

I am leaking anti freeze, slowly but surely, out of the side of my valve cover.  Is this a serious thing? Is my head going to be ok? Can I just have them put a bunch of gasket sealer in there?  Or is my whole head shot now???

Why does it seem that everytime I try to fix something, something else ends up breaking and makes it worse than what it originally was?  Basically, I'm not a happy camper.  It's running like absolute crap, some electrical things don't work right, and I just spent a lot of money on a car that can't even be driven now.  It's also snowing outside now, and I don't even have an Eagle to have fun out there with...  

[doneagle]

          HI sorry to hear about your car . the head will be alright mine is in to the water jacket I have to silicone on the bolt. about the electrical that is more hands on.I would have to be there and test certain things to find out what is wrong I hope this helped some     Don

[ammachine390]

Sorry to hear about all that. That really sucks. Have you checked all the fuses fusible links. The temp gauge sending wire is located on head right next to the valve cover in the back, so maybe they left the wire off and forgot to put it back on. Also, for the antifreeze leak, make sure its not leaking into the oil. I think I read on here that one way to fix that, is to remove the screw, and put some rtv on and reinstall.

[Jurjen]

Wow, sorry to hear that, they really did a very bad job (and that's an understatement).

[thereverendbill]

No worries, I drilled the water jacket when i put on my new valve cover, I installed a set of studs with some red loctite and there is no leak there.  The temp sensor like said in an earlier post can just be put back on (mine comes off every now and again. 
On the subject of the oil leaks; did they torque the bolts down correctly? that may be your leak something as simple as the bolts aren't tight enough.  i found my oil leaks are caused by a bad fuel pump that was pumping fuel into the block and thinning the oil out.  It probably has been before I installed the new valve cover and i wouldn't have known always having to add oil because of the leaky valve cover   

[wagoneerhauler]

That does suck.  Hope he gave a discount but doubt that.  Anyway, Bills method with the locktight and stud would be a great way to go.  However, if you want to do with what you have get some white Teflon sealant in a tube.  That's the stuff you'd use for the head bolts on the AMC 8s that go into the water jackets.  Or any other motor with bolts going there for that matter.

[Eagleearl]

That does suck! Teflon tape wrapped around the bolts should also seal the antifreeze although studs with loctite would probably be best. Check to see that they got the gasket in there right for the oil leak. Check to see if they knocked any vacuum hoses off or cracked them while working on it leaving you with vacuum leaks.

[amc78concord]

Thanks for the input, I'll definitely look into my options of the silicone on the bolt.  I wonder if the valve cover has to come completely off again? Because I am still leaking oil pretty good, right next to the carb.  If you look under the car, you can count to 5 and watch a big oil drop splat on the ground.

As for my idle, why does the car not run like how it used to?  It's almost like a surge and then it kinda "dies", and comes back to life...It's not real dramatic when it "dies", but something definitely isn't right.  Maybe there are some vacuum lines that weren't put back right, which I'll have to wait until we get one of our other Eagles out of storage to compare engines with to see.  When the wires shorted out, maybe it hurt my brain box (or whatever it's called)?  My dad said that could be a possibility.

And we managed to get the temp guage fixed, it was one of the fried wires in which he didn't replace.  

[nvsteve]

I think you should start calling the guy that did the work your ex-buddy.

[ammachine390]

What kind of gasket was used? Did they put any RTV on the gasket? Do you know if they torqued the screws down correctly?

[doneagle]

              HI   It sounds to me like the gasket is not where it should be..as for electric. I would undo the tape job they did and see if all the wires are in the right places. While your looking for wires look for vacuum lines off or damaged.check your fuses and fuseable links . I think you should find your problem I hope this helped you Robert....................Don 

[PatrickH]

If you paid shop rates for all that, YOU should be making them stand behind their work or refund your money. That is simply good business. Politely but firmly let them know you expect to get professional work when you are charged professional fees. Most will stand up like men when challenged, but after doing this professionally for nearly 20 years, I know some wimp out. Professional work for professional fees is simply fair and reasonable.

[amc78concord]

im with patrick. if they want to charge professional, they should act professional. and making things right with the customer is professional. im guessing a vacume line or two got melted in the cook off.

also, it is a very narrow seal right along the carb there. the gasket has to be set just PERFECTLY. it may not be in the sealing area just right. im a mechanic myself, and sometimes i dont have time to do all i need to do. that doesnt matter, i will NEVER pay anyone else to do my work for me. they never care about what your doing like you will. like the old sayin goes "you want something done right, do it yourself." atleast if something isnt correct, i can only blaim myself. (or if i burn up wires, its my own bad.) lol. been there, done that from lack of attention to detail.

I agree with you as well casper.  I really would've like to have done this myself, but I wouldn't consider myself that mechanically inclined to do so.  Mainly because I didn't want to drill the extra holes in the head in fear I would hit the water jackets, but he ends up hitting them anyways... I might as well should have done it myself as the way it turned out...     

I believe my engine is running bad maybe because my timing could be off, as it seems like I can hear the next cylinder fire in the exhaust, would lead me to believe that the exhaust valve is open on one and the next cylinder is already firing... maybe that could be timing?  Just trying to think of some options here...

[Eagleearl]

Make sure they didn't pull off the plug wires and put them back wrong. They shouldn't have needed to touch them but they may have. Timing should not have changed if it was running right before.

[LaGuardia]

And, about electrical issues, don't forget to check out the famous ground spot on the firewall, on the left of the brake booster. It's so near the valve cover "working area" that I would not be surprised if they misplaced or otherwise tampered with it.

[tougeagle]

I recently bought my new valve cover, and had my buddies shop put it on for me.  Mainly because I didn't want to mess around with drilling holes and making a mess of my engine and not knowing if I could get it back together.  Well, this plan didn't go so well.  

I went to go pick up the car in high spirits, hoping the car would look good under the hood and my oil leaks would be cured.  I walked in the door and my friend says, "Yea, we had a bit of problems with your Eagle." "We put the cover on and about 5 minutes later after starting it up, there was a bunch of smoke pouring out of the engine."  ...I thought he was just joking with me, as he always gives me crap about my Eagle.  But he wasn't, with the new aluminum valve cover, some wires on the back side we're bare and then because it was aluminum now instead of plastic, it conducted electricity...  He said they repaired the wires and wrapped them real good, and said that he noticed no electrical components were harmed.  Well I said good, and got the keys and walked out to my car.  >>>But, it wasn't good... I started it up and noticed things weren't right...

>>>My tachometer doesn't work, which I just put on like a week ago
>>>Temperature gauge doesn't work
>>>Car doesn't idle right, like a misfire
>>>Still leaking oil, still from the valve cover by the Carb
>>>And, later I found out that when drilling the holes for my valve cover, he drilled to deep and drilled into my water jackets in my head

I am leaking anti freeze, slowly but surely, out of the side of my valve cover.  Is this a serious thing? Is my head going to be ok? Can I just have them put a bunch of gasket sealer in there?  Or is my whole head shot now???

Why does it seem that everytime I try to fix something, something else ends up breaking and makes it worse than what it originally was?  Basically, I'm not a happy camper.  It's running like absolute crap, some electrical things don't work right, and I just spent a lot of money on a car that can't even be driven now.  It's also snowing outside now, and I don't even have an Eagle to have fun out there with...  

No offense, but your buddy's shop is a bunch of hacks. that's a pretty simple job to have go so very wrong.....You can get your water jackets sealed up by stuffing some water soluable peanut pieces down into the holes with a pen or pick, and using a small amount of jb weld, enough to fill at least 1/8 inch. Wait several hours, but not until it cures fully, and install bolts to create a seal around the bolt (it shouldn't bond to the bolt, but will make the threads tight to the bolt). You should probably make sure there is no antifreeze in your oil as well.

ALso, valve timing is different from ignition timing. Valves will open at the set rate no matter where your dizzy is. Combustion itself is a different story. The only way to change valve timing is to remove the timing cover and skip the chain over a tooth or something. I would shy away from messing with any settings, and just go through the car and fix what they screwed up.

And never, ever go there again. For any reason.

[amc78concord]

Update: 2/26/2011.  

I brought my car back to them, and gave my friends an ear-full.  Frankly, there is no other repair place in my town where I'd take my car.  I have a lot of faith in that shop, and they do know what they're doing.  This was just an unfortunate happening, my first with them since both me and my dad have been going there (a long time).  But anyways, they agreed to fix their mistakes, for free.  They plugged up the hole which was drilled to deep and fixed the valve cover gasket which didn't lay right near the carb.  

I picked it up yesterday, and started it up...It sounded good, a little uneven at idle, but that's how it was before I had the valve cover put on.  I didn't have much time to look into it further, I had to get going to work.  So I drove the car to work at 4 pm.  I got off at 10 pm, and started to drive home.  I came to a red light, and when it turned green I gave it quite a bit of gas...in which killed it...  I restarted it, gave it more gas again and it really died down and almost stalled again.  So now, it's getting to much gas, so I assume the timing is still off.  Also, my windows were fogging up terribly, so I turned on my defrost.  It didn't do anything, and all I could smell is anti-freeze.  And sure enough, there it is all over the carpeting of my Eagle...Heater core must've taken a crap.

I don't think they had anything to do with the breaking of the heater core...but seriously... how much more time and money is this car going to take from me??

[wagoneerhauler]

As you get more done and repaired the frequency of needed work should lessen.  I does seem like i won't sometimes though.  The quitting when you step on it might not be too much gas but probably not enough.  You might want to check the accelerator pump to make sure its working correctly and giving the shot it supposed to when you step on it like you did.  Also, there seems to be a vacuum leak since it has a miss at idle so that may be the stalling issue too.  Glad they fixed the issues they caused too.

[68AMXGOPAC]

It will probably take up alot of time and all your money , as the second owner of the Money Pit , I can attest to that. I got the tranny back in it and running and now the heater blower motor on the Caddy went 2 days later , how about $266 + tx. for one of those !!I can feel you pain , plain and simple.

[thereverendbill]

It will probably take up alot of time and all your money , as the second owner of the Money Pit , I can attest to that. I got the tranny back in it and running and now the heater blower motor on the Caddy went 2 days later , how about $266 + tx. for one of those !!I can feel you pain , plain and simple.

I was wondering about the SX/4, glad you got it all together.  now to throw money at other areas of the car

[68AMXGOPAC]

Yes, especially since running the SX/4 2 or 3 times now, the tranny works great, but now I have white residue in the oil dipstick........and mixed into the blowby in the air cleaner............I really don't remember it an issue before, and I know the tranny has no relationship to it, just more of the luck that we have.

[68AMXGOPAC]

On a good note, I did dig the wagon out of the snow today and got it running and out of it's snowbank hole.It needed some gas dumped in the carb to prime it, and a battery charge. ( no power steering pump, means no altenator belt ) a large zip tie (3' long ,lol ) acts as the water pump belt for now to move it and keep it cooling,those fat street tires are worthless in the snow though, but it is resting in a new place now.
I may just switch priority gears and get the 401 finished up to run in the AMX this year.Snow is allmost over right?? LOL